Expansion Project 2011-2016

The US$150 million Expansion Project involves a five-year open pit mining phase of the two kimberlite pipes, transitioning to a 12-year underground mining operation on both pipes, as well as introducing a second underground mining operation in parallel to extract the kimberlite dykes and blows.

The Expansion Project comprises

Open Pit Mining – Ramping up tonnes mined from the open pits from 300,000 tonnes per month to 1,500,000 tonnes per month;

Underground Mining – detailed design and development of portal, decline and underground infrastructure;

Construction of a new 180 tonne per hour Dense Media Separation processing plant capable of treating 1.2 million tonnes of ore per annum;

Construction of new mine infrastructure scaled up to meet the requirements of the 500% increase in mining capacity;

Resettlement of the community living within the larger 500m safe blast envelope beyond the final open pit perimeters;

Construction of a new road linking the Resettlement Village with the main road entering Koidu Town, to replace the section of road to be enclosed within the mining lease area.